Below is a short collection of slides demonstrating the power of your most enthusiastic customers (AKA Brand Advocates.) Check it out:

The Power of Brand Advocates

The following is an excerpt from the upcoming book, “Energize! How to Turn Fans, Followers, and Loyal Customers into Social Media Marketing Machines,” by Rob Fuggetta, Founder & CEO, Zuberance.

George Hamma is an owner of a BMW MINI. But there’s nothing small about his passion for his beloved car.

Hamma, a youthful-looking 65, enthusiastically recommends MINI to hundreds of his friends, co-workers, and even complete strangers.

The Sunnyvale, CA resident is an active member of the Northern California chapter of the MINI owner’s club. He also shares his passion for MINI on his Facebook page, Twitter @ghamma, and on his personal website, where Hamma – an avid photographer – posts photos of MINI owners’ rallies.

Hamma is an active participant at NorthAmericanMotoring.com, a site where MINI owners meet to talk about their cars and motoring (about 16,500 members). Hamma has engaged in hundreds of conversations with current and (possibly) future MINI owners.

That’s George in the photo standing proudly next to his MINI, a 2011 MINI Cooper S Countryman ALL4, which he named “Fenton” in honor of a local ice cream parlor where his favorite flavor is also black and tan like his MINI.

MINI’s Super Salesperson

As a direct result of his advocacy, six friends have bought MINI’s. At about $35,000 per MINI, Hamma has generated about $200,000 in revenues for BMW, making Hamma one of MINI’s best – and certainly one of its most cost-effective  – sales people.

MINI hasn’t given Hamma anything – not even a MINI t-shirt or key chain – in exchange for his advocacy. “I recommend MINI because it’s fun to drive. It’s a great product,” says Hamma. “Every time I drive my MINI, I get a big smile on my face,” he adds.

Hamma says he’s such an effective Advocate of MINI that his local MINI dealership has suggested he join their sales team.

“My local MINI dealership wants me to come in and sell MINIs for them,” laughs Hamma. “Hmmm…wonder how much that pays?” he chuckles.

Singing MINI’s Praises

A while back, Hamma enthusiastically recommended MINI to a fellow member of a professional chorus.

“I’m not kidding. The very next week she shows up at chorus practice in her new MINI. Same model as mine,” Hamma says.

Mad about Motoring

Hamma is a car enthusiast who drove BMW cars in the 1960s and 70s on the rally circuit. He occasionally takes lunch breaks from his job as a senior product tester at a Silicon Valley tech company by driving his MINI “quickly around twisty little roads” near the company.

“The other day I went over there and thrashed it pretty good. I came back to the office with a big smile on my face,” he says.

MAXImum Word of Mouth

MINI is one of those passion brands with millions of Advocates and enthusiasts like Hamma. MINI stokes this passion with the MINI Owner’s Lounge, a private, online community for MINI owners; MINI owner rallies and special events; online reviews and more. Plus, MINI gets plenty of organic positive Word of Mouth from user-created online communities, forums, events, and more.

MINI Hazard

One of the few drawbacks of owning a MINI, Hamma says, is that it has caused him to have a sore right shoulder.

“Every now and then, my wife will remind me if I’m driving a little too fast,” chuckles Hamma.

An occasional sore shoulder is a small price to pay for the fun of driving his black and tan MINI, says Hamma. “I tell all my friends and colleagues: If you want to have fun driving, go get yourself a MINI. You will not regret it,” he says.

Read more: “Energize! How to Turn Fans, Followers, and Loyal Customers into Social Media Marketing Machines”

Read more: Extreme Brand Advocate Stories

-Rob Fuggetta, Founder/CEO, Zuberance

“How much sales lift will we get by energizing our Brand Advocates?”

We get this question a lot from our customers and prospects.

The answer is “it depends.”

KEY FACTORS

It depends on lots of factors like:

• How many Advocates are energized to spread positive Word of Mouth
• How often Advocates are energized. (Ongoing programs deliver the biggest benefits.)
• Scope of Advocate activities and recommendations
• The importance and priority you give to energizing Brand Advocates

SIMPLE WAY TO ESTIMATE SALES LIFT FROM WORD OF MOUTH

We create detailed estimates of the media and sales value that prospects and customers will get from energizing their Advocates.

However, if you need a simple, back-of-the-envelope approach to estimating the sales lift of advocacy, here’s a way to do it:

1. Start by estimating how much sales you get currently from Word of Mouth. Many companies get 50% or more of their business from Word of Mouth, studies show. If your company’s revenues are currently $100 million and 25% of your sales are attributable to Word of Mouth, you currently get $25 million in sales from WOM. (Note these sales are occurring without the benefit of a systematic WOM marketing program.)
2. Estimate the sales lift you’ll get from systematically energizing your Brand Advocates to spread WOM. Assuming your company implements an ongoing WOM marketing program, this should increase by about 50% or more the amount of sales you get from Word of Mouth. In the example above, the sales lift from a programmatic approach to WOM should be about $12.5 million during a 12-month period.

WHY 50% BOOST?

Here’s why we estimate that a programmatic approach to WOM will boost sales by 50% or more:

1. The sales you’re getting today from WOM are occurring without a WOM program. A WOM program will turbo-charge Word of Mouth for your company, giving you additional benefits from WOM including increased sales. It’s like working with a personal trainer and sticking to a fitness program versus doing it alone.
2. A WOM program will amplify the positive Word of Mouth that exists today.  By giving your Advocates social media microphones, this will increase their reach and effectiveness. This will in turn generate more referral leads and sales from WOM.
3. A WOM program also will create new Word of Mouth. By giving a voice to other customers who may not have been pro-actively recommending you, this also will generate more referral leads and sales from WOM.

REAL-WORLD WOM

The only real way to measure the sales lift from WOM marketing is to measure the before/after impact.

Norton, the consumer brand of security software giant Symantec, saw its revenues on Amazon increase by $26 million several months after it started energizing its Advocates.

That’s a sales lift that should please just about any head of sales or marketing.

-Rob Fuggetta, Founder/CEO, Zuberance

The following is an excerpt from the upcoming book, “Energize! How to Turn Fans, Followers, and Loyal Customers into Social Media Marketing Machines,” by Rob Fuggetta, Founder & CEO, Zuberance.

Most people assume that advocacy is limited only to sexy or cool brands like Apple, Starbucks, or Porsche. Not true. Advocates of business brands can also be just as enthusiastic.

Hard-Core CDW Advocate: Justin Dorfman

Justin Dorfman is a self-described “hard-core CDW Advocate.” (CDW is a leading provider of technology solutions for business, government, education, and healthcare. Ranked No. 38 on Forbes’ list of America’s Largest Private Companies, CDW features dedicated account managers who help customers choose the right technology products and services to meet their needs.)

Dorfman, 26, is a support engineer for NetDNA, a content delivery network based in Los Angeles. Dorfman’s passion for CDW was ignited back in 2004 when he bought his first product – a RAID controller, a device that manages physical disk drives – from CDW while working for Western Costume Company, a costume warehouse in Hollywood. He was so impressed with CDW’s responsiveness and customer service that he said: “Oh my God, I’m in love with this company.”

The Interal CDW Champion

Since then, he’s purchased hundreds of thousands of dollars of computer gear from CDW while serving in IT positions for other companies. For example, when he started a new position as a junior systems engineer in December 2009 at Mahalo, he started buying gear from CDW. “I turned Mahalo into a CDW customer,” says Dorfman. In the 16 months he was at Mahalo, the company purchased about $200,000 in computer gear from CDW, largely as a result of Dorfman’s enthusiastic advocacy.

CDW has never paid Dorfman for his recommendations. “I put my reputation on the line for CDW and they’ve stood by me. They deliver every time,” says Dorfman. He adds: “They’re reliable. They don’t lie. You get your own account manager. There’s no calling and waiting on hold. They care for IT professionals. They know what we’re up against. They really get it.”

Establishing Advocate Relationships

Dorfman has become Facebook friends with CDW Senior Account Manager, Matt Cipolla. Cipolla has even recommended Dorfman on LinkedIn. “We know each other’s girlfriend’s names. We’re on a first-name basis. You’re just not going to get that from other IT companies,” says Dorfman.

In addition to evangelizing CDW to colleagues and friends offline, Dorfman recommends CDW online on Twitter (@jdorfman, where he has 443 followers as of July 2011;) by re-Tweeting CDW’s content and deals; talking them up on his blog (blog.justindorfman.com); his personal website Frugal IT; and on Spiceworks, an online community for IT professionals, where he created a “I love CDW” icon.

Lauren McCadney, Sr. Segment Marketing Manager for CDW, says: “I believe he (Justin) has come to represent the future of marketing:  influential Brand Advocates that establish a personal relationship with their favorite brands.  I’ve worked him for more years than I can count. And it was only in the last five years that I’ve come to really know customers like Justin as both a source of consumer insight but also as a friend.”

Read more: “Energize! How to Turn Fans, Followers, and Loyal Customers into Social Media Marketing Machines”

Read more: Extreme Brand Advocate Stories

-Rob Fuggetta, Founder/CEO, Zuberance

Many companies get more than half of their business from Word of Mouth (WOM.) How much money do companies lose when they wait to harness the power of WOM?

Here’s an example from the fitness industry. As the chart shows, this fitness club is losing $1.2 million in revenues by not energizing its highly-satisfied customers to spread positive WOM and generate referral leads.

This is actually a very conservative estimate on how much companies may be losing by not activating WOM, considering (again, using the fitness industry example):

1. Many fitness companies generate much more than $1,200 per year per member. On average, each member at a higher-end fitness club may be spending about $5,000 per year.
2. This estimate doesn’t take into consideration the lifetime value of each member acquired via a WOM referral. If the average tenure of a member at a higher-end club is five years, the value of each customer acquired via WOM referrals is actually $25,000 (5 years x $5,000.)
3. The estimate below is for a single member only. Family memberships are also from WOM referrals.

To calculate the value of energizing your Brand Advocates, download our “What’s a Brand Advocate Worth?” whitepaper.

To learn how fitness chains can yield a 9X ROI by leveraging Word of Mouth, download the Club One Fitness case study.

-Rob Fuggetta, Founder/CEO, Zuberance

Hungry for resources on brand advocacy, word of mouth marketing, and social media? Well you’re in luck! We just launched our new resources page. Check out some of the featured content:

Whitepapers

• Turning Fans and Followers into Brand Advocates
• Top 5 Reasons Brands Should Focus on Earned Media
• How to Turn Your Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force Across Industries

Webinars

• A Marketing Imperative: Balancing Paid vs. Earned Media featuring David Armano (Edelman Digital) and Sean Corcoran (Forrester Research Inc)
• How to Turn Loyal Customers into Salespeople featuring Robin Korman (Wyndham Hotel Group) and John Moser (Denihan Hospitality Group)
• How to Make Social Media Work in B2B featuring Lauren McCadney (CDW) and Paul Dunay (Networked Insights)

Case Studies

• Intuit: Social Recommendations are Game-Changing For Us
• How Blurb Cut Customer Acquisition Costs in Half
• Chili’s Peppers in Brand Advocacy

Stats on Brand Advocates

• An Army of Brand Advocates- There are more than 60 million Brand Advocates in the US and billions worldwide, creating a virtual Army of Advocates.
• The Power of Brand Advocates- 92% of consumers trust “recommendations from people I know.” Only 37% trust search engine ads, and just 24% trust online banner ads.
• Brand Advocacy by Demographic- 50% of women with social network profiles purchased products because of information they got from friends or companies on social networking sites.

Videos

• Author David Meerman Scott on “How the Grateful Dead Enabled Fans to Spread Advocacy”
• AdAge’s Abbey Klaassen on “How to Convert a Passive Fan into a Brand Advocate”
• JetBlue’s Morgan Johnston on “How JetBlue Built Long Lasting Relationships on Their 10th Birthday”

Panel discussions and key takeaways from past events

• Brand Advocacy Series: How To Turn Word of Mouth and Social Media into Sales featuring Microsoft, JetBlue, CDW, Alberto Culver, and more
• The Next Step in Social: Beyond Listening and Engagement featuring Intuit, Adobe, and Altimeter Group
• Zuberance CEO, Rob Fuggetta, speaks at TEDx Constitution Drive on “Consumer Trust in the Social Media Age”

Visit the Brand Advocacy Resources Library

-Cara Fuggetta, Marketing Manager, Zuberance

Download: Turn Your Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force

If you’re like lots of companies, you have a very valuable marketing resource just going to waste: Brand Advocates. They’re your most passionate and influential customers. They’re already recommending your products- with no incentive. Can you imagine what they’d do if you were working with them?

This report covers Word of Mouth Marketing success stories in various industries including:

• Travel and Hospitality
• Software
• Health and Fitness
• Consumer Electronics
• Restaurants and Casual Dining

Download the Case Study to learn how:

• Chili’s energized their Advocates to share over 320,000 offers with their social networks.
• Club One Fitness yielded a 9X ROI through their Advocates’ recommendations.
• A leading consumer electronics company increased their star ratings on Amazon from 2.5 to 4.1.

-Cara Fuggetta, Marketing Manager, Zuberance

From the upcoming book, “Energize! How to Turn Fans, Followers, & Brand Advocates into a Powerful Marketing Force” by Rob Fuggetta.

Here’s one of the biggest myths about B2B Word of Mouth advocacy:

Only a small fraction – maybe 1% to 5%  – of customers recommend the business products and services they use.

In fact, about 50% of business customers are Advocates, our surveys of business people have found.

The percentage ranges from 24% for a telecommunications services company to 81% for an IT reseller. (See chart below.)

Our polls are not scientific surveys. But the results point to a clear finding: if you’re a B2B company, you’ve got more Advocates than you think.

If you have 100,000 end users, you may have an army of 50,000 highly trusted, influential, and social media-powered Advocates.

What’s the best way to find out how many customers you have are Advocates?

Ask them if they recommend you. It’s that simple.

Read more about what’s fact and what’s fiction in the world of B2B Word of Mouth marketing here.

-Rob Fuggetta, Founder/CEO, Zuberance

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, Foursquare, the list goes on and on. With a sea of social networks out there, and each with a distinct social dynamic and method of sharing content, it’s difficult for brands to determine where to throw their social anchor.

A recent ExactTarget report sheds some light on the issue by highlighting a medium that is particularly valuable to brands: TWITTER.

Above any social network, Twitter users are the most influential online consumers and the most likely to generate online recommendations on behalf of your brand.

• 72% publish blog posts at least once a month
• 70% comment on others’ blog posts
• 61% write at least one product review a month
• 61% comment on news sites
• 56% write articles for third-party sites
• 53% post videos online
• 50% make contributions to wiki sites
• 48% share deals found through coupon forums

Since it’s in Twitter users’ social DNA to comment, create, and recommend, it’s critical to identify Brand Advocates among your followers and arm them with the tools to proclaim their love for your brand.

How? It’s simple:

First, identify Advocates among your followers using listening tools, sentiment analysis, or with a simple tweet: How likely are to recommend our brand?

Next, provide the hand-raisers with the tools to recommend your brand and products. Give them the opportunity to:

• Write a review
• Retell their favorite moment with your brand or product
• Share exclusive offers with their followers and other social networks
• Provide feedback on how to improve the next version of your product
• Join your community website
• Answer prospects’ questions

The beauty of this channel is that the conversations that take place here go beyond Twitter. The 140 character limit makes it a clickable medium, meaning that people have to click through to fully consume a tweet’s content. Therefore, recommendations by Advocates on Twitter fuel discussions across all areas of the web which influence both Twitter and non-Twitter users alike.

Don’t miss the opportunity to turn Twitter users who are naturally inclined to recommend your brand into a powerful marketing force!

You can learn more in our latest whitepaper, “Turning Fans and Followers into Brand Advocates.”

-Cara Fuggetta, Marketing Manager, Zuberance

LinkedOut: Another Social Network Opt-Out Draws Fire – WSJ

It seems that privacy questions about social-networking sites are the new black. This time, some customers are expressing concern about LinkedIn, the job-networking site that had its IPO last month. At issue, a two-month-old site tweak that can turn members from ordinary career networkers into brand cheerleaders with their profile photo and name popping up in related advertising.

Social Media Hierarchy of Effects and ROI - Social Media Today

We all know that Brand Advocates are actively promoting your brand to their network, but how did they get there? This article explains the hierarchy, or the funnel, of the social network and its effects.  If a brand nurtures the relationship through the stages in the funnel then hopefully they find a Brand Advocate who can help with positive ROI.

Foursquare Gets into the Crowdsourced Curation Game With Tip Lists – TechCrunch

Up until now your Foursquare Tips have sort of roamed free on the app, without rhyme or reason or real incentive to add more. The company is now trying to improve on the Tips experience and get users to fancy themselves local experts. After all, you must know something about some place in the city you live in right?

6 Ways Google+ is Winning (and Losing) - AdAge

PepsiCo’s Shiv Singh, shares the pro’s and cons of Google+. He’s still trying to figure out if this network will become an add-on or a replacement to his current digital habits. To him, Google+ has the best of Facebook and the best of Twitter you have the ability to broadcast and select closed groups who should receive that broadcast. So is it meant to be a bridge between the two but do we really need that?

Restaurant Groupies Are Valuable to Companies – Star-Telegram

Call it fanaticism or simply dedication, but these are the ultra-enthusiastic fans that every restaurant craves. Restaurant groupies have always been around, but they’re more valuable at a time when the economy forces consumers to choose carefully when they eat out, and a few online posts can inform thousands.

-Cara Fuggetta, Marketing Manager, Zuberance